Effect of the Morphology of Polymer Composites on Their Properties.

After delimiting the term of polymer morphology, its influence on the elastic properties of two-phase polymer compositions is explained on the basis of limit and micromechanical theories. From a comparison of the empirical Takayanagi model with the theory of Halpin and Tsai, a structural interpretation of the model parameters is derived, and the influence of the morphology and its changes on the strength characteristics of the system is described. To conclude, possibilities presented by the transmission electron microscopy for evaluating the morphology of solid composition samples are discussed, and the principle of a new method (cut-surface imprints), enabling good results to be obtained, is described.